


Safety First

by charmed310



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: hd-fan-fair, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 17:44:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2516351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmed310/pseuds/charmed310
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for HD_Fanfair's Book Fair 2013.</p>
<p>Harry has always supported the notion of: ‘What is Hogwarts without a little danger? No one’s died in years!’ while Draco has quite a different view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safety First

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mothlights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothlights/gifts).



***

Draco Malfoy got up from his knees as gracefully as possible, wincing as the carpet burnt spots stretched with his skin. He’d have to heal those later. It was Potter’s fault entirely for not being able to keep it in his trousers long enough to get to the bed, or even the squashy blue sofa three steps away.

Potter leaned against the window frame, gazing out into the street as he lit a cigarette. He was still naked and apparently relishing it, while Draco quietly rushed about, collecting his clothing. How the hell had his pants found themselves in the chandelier? He summoned them down to him with his wand.

‘You don’t have to go, you know,’ Potter said as Draco tugged on his shirt. Damn Potter again; three buttons were missing. He pointed his wand round the room and the torn off buttons flew up from under the bed and reattached themselves. 

‘We can have lunch, another round of mind-blowing sex, and then dinner, and perhaps even breakfast.’

‘I’ve a job to get back to, and so do you,’ Draco snapped, though he couldn’t help but smile. The invitation was quite tempting, and ordinarily he’d have gone for it but he’d just got his first promotion at the Ministry and had no intention of getting sacked because of Potter’s desire to shag.

‘Suit yourself.’ Potter lazily put out his cigarette and strolled across to Draco and took his face in his hands, kissing him hard. Draco grimaced a little at the ashy flavour, but Potter’s lips and tongue were quite magical, no pun intended, and he couldn’t help himself as he kissed back. 

‘See you around, Potter,’ Draco said a few minutes later. He hoped he sounded as nonchalant as Harry appeared to be, for his heart was racing again and he longed to continue.

Potter kissed him once more and winked as he left.

Draco closed the apartment door behind him and leaned against the wall outside, laughing to himself, touching his face. His lips were tender, his knees would probably bleed out onto his robes, and his arse - well, it hurt too much to think about. He didn’t know what the hell was going on with him and Potter, but he couldn’t say he didn’t like it. The man was great at sex. He knew just where to touch Draco to make him hiss and beg for it - something that Draco _never_ did. He wasn’t clingy and didn’t expect some sort of commitment which was excellent as Draco didn’t have any spare time for such - besides, Potter was an Auror, he could wind up dead at any moment - though with Potter’s luck, un-bloody-likely. The pair had contented themselves with random Floo calls when one was horny, and the other would oblige. In fact, it was possibly the best relationship Draco had ever had without actually having one. Pansy would be so proud of him if only he felt he could tell her, but some things were best left private.

It was a damn shame Potter had gotten to him so easily.

***

Back inside the apartment, Harry lit another cigarette to quell the misery that rose up inside him every time Draco left. He was falling for him, and falling hard. Harry loved the way his blond hair fell forward onto his face when he rode Harry from on top; he loved the way he shuddered just before he came, and he especially loved the way he tasted when they kissed. He wanted to _know_ Draco beyond his bedroom, but, and he chuckled wryly to himself, he hadn’t even the balls to call the man Draco to his face. But how could he? Draco was just in it for the fucking, and Harry knew it. Trust him to go ahead and throw his whole heart in it. His eye caught the glint of metal near the bed and he bent down and retrieved a forgotten cufflink of Draco’s. Squeezing it tightly in his palm, Harry screwed up his resolve. This had to stop. Draco would never love him and he needed to get out of it before he got hurt.

He waited a couple of weeks, so as not to appear a complete tramp, and wrote a short note to Draco telling him that he’d met someone and that their arrangement couldn’t continue: simple and to the point, not betraying a single feeling. 

Draco’s response of _’Thanks, it was fun while it lasted!_ was appropriately cheerful. Draco could have any man he wanted after all.

Harry went about his business at work, though he still suffered from pangs each time he caught sight of a blond head of hair, or caught the smell of Draco’s aftershave on another man. 

Encouraged by his friends, Harry went on dates and out to clubs with other men, but never settled, keeping himself as busy as he could with work, getting into the office long before the rest of the staff, and leaving long after everyone else.

The years passed, his friends got married and had children, and Harry had his work and his home, and his little black book of ‘buddies’, none of which had Draco’s pull to him. Things would be all right, really. He didn’t need to fall in love to be happy at twenty-six… or twenty-nine.

**Six years later…**

Harry grabbed at his hair in frustration for what was probably the millionth time as he shuffled through the stack of parchment on the desk before him, knocking the pile of Chocolate Frog wrappings to the floor. His card had been in three of them. The picture they used made him look quite young and dashing; he hoped this new job wouldn’t age him too much, though with the stress he was currently under…

‘How on earth did you decide?’ Harry muttered.

‘Oh, Potter. Always so popular. Be thankful you have a choice.’

Harry turned and scowled at Severus. ‘Not helping.’

‘An Arithmantic equation often works,’ piped up Fortescue.

‘Hermione is not available.’ Harry wished she were. As one of the new school governors she had lobbied hard for the new curriculum to include an introduction to Magical Law; the least she could do was to help him select the new teacher from the monstrous pile of applicants.

He stared at the endless print until the words jumbled and swam before his eyes.

‘You know what,’ he muttered, picking up his wand. ‘Fuck this.’

‘Oh my dear!’ came several shrieks from the portraits behind him, while others chuckled.

‘Eloquent as ever,’ Severus murmured.

A single piece of parchment rose from the pile and winged its way over to the board Harry had erected on an easel and stuck itself firmly beneath the heading ‘Magical Law Professor’, filling the void. Harry smiled. That was that. All staff accounted for. He dictated a letter to his quill to send off to the applicant, Mr Benedict Faulkner, informing him that he had been selected. Flicking his wand again, he filed away all the other applications just in case.

One week left to the start of his first term as headmaster of Hogwarts and he had to admit he was excited. His welcome address to the students had been prepared (with some help from the portraits on the wall), all the classrooms had been stocked, and the grounds pruned and ready for the new year. Harry hoped he’d be a good leader for the school - he knew Hogwarts like the back of his hand, and it would always feel like home. The existing staff had been very accommodating and helpful, especially Neville Longbottom who taught Herbology. Neville himself had been up for the post of headmaster before Harry, but turned it down in favour of his plants. Neville had also been the one to recommend Harry for the job instead. Ideally, one should have had tenure at Hogwarts before being considered for the position, but the staff and school governors had agreed that Harry, recently retired from the Aurors, would be just as good at running a school as Britain’s Wizarding top officers. Harry, with little else to do with his time after retiring (he really liked his nose, and both his legs and eyes, thank you), accepted with pleasure.

As Harry happily remembered the better days at Hogwarts, especially Quidditch, suddenly he couldn’t wait until September first. Being an Auror had severely cut down on his Quidditch time, and he hoped he’d have more opportunity to get out on his new broom, a Firebolt 3000, and show the kids how things were done - if he didn’t nosedive into the mud, of course. 

Harry’s friends were quite happy that he was going to be there now that their children were starting at Hogwarts.

‘They’ll never have the fun we used to, though,’ Harry teased at dinner with Ron and Hermione the night before term began. 

‘I’m perfectly happy with dull children, thank you,’ Hermione replied. ‘And mind you look after them properly - you _know_ what teenagers are like.’

‘Things aren’t the way they were when we were at Hogwarts, Hermione. And they’re just kids! How hard could it be?’

_Famous last words,_ thought Harry despondently as he waited at the bottom of the drive a mere three weeks into term to escort Mr and Mrs Timms up to the school. Their daughter Amy, a second year, had been injured when she fell down the stairs. Apparently the staircase had begun to change and she had taken a flying leap to avoid being left behind and missed. Harry still felt a bit ill when thought of the angle of Amy’s left leg before the new school matron, Miss Broadcastle, had patched her up. He had written to Mr and Mrs Timms to let them know what had happened, but he didn’t expect them to want to come to Hogwarts themselves to make sure she was all right.

Harry sighed as he left Mr and Mrs Timms in the hospital wing with their Amy, who had been expertly healed, but was obviously still a bit shaken. As headmaster, it was now his duty to write to the school governors and the Ministry to inform them what had happened, plus a report from Miss Broadcastle had to be attached. Harry wondered if Dumbledore had had to do this each time he, Harry had been injured. 

_Probably not,_ Harry thought darkly as he sent off his letters to their respective recipients. 

In addition to poor little Amy falling down the stairs, there had been a few other mishaps. Six first years had been caught prowling around the Forbidden Forest and had been issued detention. Surely, when Harry had said the Forbidden Forest was _forbidden_ , people ought to take heed. The animal healer had had to be sent for when one of the school hippogriffs had got colic, and _someone_ kept letting off stink pellets in the Ravenclaw common room. Harry thought it might be one of the Weasleys, but he wasn’t going to point fingers just yet. All in all, he thought he was doing a good job: the children were more or less behaving, and the teachers had yet to complain about the way he was handling things. 

The next morning however, he began to doubt himself very much. As headmaster, he received his mail in his office an hour before the rest of the school. He was unsurprised to see a Ministry owl winging its way into the window, certain it was just to announce receipt of his letter the day before. Sipping his first cup of coffee, Harry opened the letter and read:

_Dear Professor Potter_

_The Ministry of Magic has received your letter explaining the unfortunate incident that took place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on Tuesday._

_We at the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes - Safety Division find it necessary to send a representative to your school to asses any other possibly dangerous artefacts, structures, plants or beasts and see that they be removed or their use discontinued._

_Please advise on when will be convenient for our representative to come to your school. Please note that he/she may need to stay on for several days to observe and correct his/her findings accordingly._

_Sincerely_

_Gwendolyn Rutshire_  
DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES  
SAFETY DIVISION  
Ministry of Magic 

‘What?’ Harry said aloud, his eyes widening at the (frankly) very snide letter from the Ministry. One child had made a mistake in judgement and she’d been patched up. Why did it bloody well matter all of a sudden to the Ministry what went on at Hogwarts that could easily be handled by the staff?

Damn. The Ministry owl still stood there waiting. He sat for a solid four minutes re-reading the letter before making his decision.

‘Fucking Ministry,’ he muttered, again to squeals of outrage from some of his predecessors. Dumbledore just chuckled. Pulling a blank sheet of parchment before him, Harry picked up his quill and scrawled his reply to the Ministry, inviting the representative to come to Hogwarts on Friday and stay as long as he or she needed to in the castle. He waved his wand and the letter folded itself and attached to the owl’s leg which flew off without so much as a farewell hoot.

‘You have a nice day, too!’ Harry called after it. 

_Bugger._ Not even a month in and they were sending the Ministry of Magic after him. He sighed again, calling two house elves to prepare the representative’s room.

***

Harry couldn’t quite believe his eyes when he saw the Ministry member that graced the castle halls. His white blond hair and pale, pointed (and sneering) face were unmistakable, as well as his tall slender figure encased in the deep blue official robes. Harry heart raced and his palms began to sweat. Draco Malfoy was as gorgeous as ever.

_Oh god I’m still not over him._

‘Malfoy? You?’

‘Yes, Potter, me. Here to save your school from you.’

Harry bristled at the unfair comment, but he kept his mouth shut. Malfoy could have the power to sack him on the spot for all he knew.

‘Potter, it was a joke.’

‘Ah. Shall I show you to your room, and then you’ll get started with your… observation?’

‘Certainly,’ Draco said reaching for his cases.

‘Allow me.’ Harry, determined to be more gracious, waved his wand and they disappeared from view and into one of the spare bed chambers on the seventh floor, just across the wing from Harry’s own chamber. If anything were to happen in the night, Harry wanted to know at least at the same time as Draco. His imagination presented scenes of very different night-time activities and he had to tell himself off.

‘How is the little stair-jumping girl you wrote about?’

‘Oh, she’s fine. We have added ‘No Jumping From Moving Staircases’ signs to our décor, as you’ll notice when we get inside.’

‘Very happy to hear that. One item off my list.’

‘I didn’t know you were working in the Accidents and Catastrophes department,’ Harry said as the climbed up to the entrance doors.

‘You never asked. Anyway, this is a new division, the Safety; much smaller of course, with four in the office as opposed to forty. We spent the first year and a half in the Ministry building itself, making sure all the codes were up to standard. Even magical means of construction can fade after time. _Your_ old quarters were a mess.’

Harry laughed. ‘How did Jeffries take it?’ he asked of his successor.

‘Not well,’ Draco admitted with a smile. ‘Though you’d probably have hexed me right out of there while all Jeffries did was glower at me for a few weeks.’

They looked at each other for a few long moments, Harry relishing the laughter in Draco’s eyes. It had been so long since he’d been able to look at his face properly, and he’d missed it. What was he going to do?

Draco led the way into the Great Hall. He pulled out a clipboard and quill from inside his robes and began making notes. Harry hoped the elves had done their jobs and the castle was well and truly spotless. 

Once Draco had unpacked and had been refreshed, he began his work around the castle. Harry tried to accompany him, but the glare he’d received sent him running back to the safety of his office. Draco said he would come to him when he was finished and to be patient.

Harry could concentrate on nothing else but Draco for the rest of the day. He could scarcely understand why the fates had frowned upon him and had chosen Draco to come to Hogwarts instead of one of the other _three_ people in the division.

_Ugh._

Draco dined with Harry in the Great Hall under the watchful eyes of the students and staff. Harry had introduced Draco as a former student and classmate of Harry’s, and that they should all be extra polite and careful not to bother him over the next few days, stressing on the word ‘careful’ at which Draco snickered.

After dinner, they adjourned to Harry’s office to discuss Draco’s findings.

To begin, Draco laid his clipboard now stacked ominously high with parchment sheets covered in his neat handwriting. He then produced a thick book which Harry was very familiar with: _Hogwarts, A History_. 

‘I took the liberty of highlighting a few cases of injury and a death that have happened over the years at Hogwarts due to negligence: Basil Brooks was attacked by a bugbear in 1983. Two months later Desmond Hill, fell out of a school sleigh. The following year, Rhoda Benson got set on fire during lunch break, and then Ida Leech, a first year, fell in the lake and drowned taking one of the boats out on her own.’

Draco flipped the pages of the old tome with a sigh, before saying, ‘Then, Potter, there was you in 1992 and 1993, both Quidditch accidents.’

‘Malfoy, Hogwarts is perfectly safe for my students. These incidents, especially mine, were isolated and unfortunate accidents that--’

‘That could happen at any time if the proper preventions aren’t put in place.’

Harry managed to look quite bored. Draco slapped down another book, this one quite unfamiliar, called _Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_.

‘Muggles, Malfoy? Really?’

Malfoy glared at him. ‘I want you to read the safety measures these Muggles put into place at their schools,’ he said levelly. ‘Frequent checking of all equipment, supplies and members of staff is paramount to keeping the children safe. And they are very much invested in the use of helmets for most activities. Perhaps the Gobstones Club could even benefit from goggles.’

Draco passed Harry a sheet of parchment with a list on it. ‘As this is only your first year as headmaster and you can’t possibly know all the ropes, I have some suggestions for improvement.’

‘How kind of you.’

‘I know.’

Harry scanned the list.

‘A safety net below the Quidditch pitch? How will the Seeker catch the Snitch?’

‘The Snitches with stay in the range of play.’

‘Tethering first years’ brooms when they first fly? That’s not fair.’

‘Need I remind you of Longbottom, and _yourself_? You could have killed yourselves.’

‘Malfoy, Muggles don’t have Healers like we do, they _need_ to have these safety measures you want to impose or they might die. Don’t you remember the thrill of playing Quidditch with the wind in your face, and nothing to keep you in the air except magic?’

Draco glared, ‘Potter, you are not taking me seriously.’

‘I am, very seriously. But I don’t think a Quidditch safety net is going to fly, pardon the pun.’

‘Moving along. The Whomping Willow ought to be uprooted--’

‘Oh no, you will _not_ uproot the Whomping Willow!’ Harry’s heart hurt just thinking about it. True, the Willow had been a source of a lot of pain for him, but it still held many memories of which he had very little intention of letting go.

‘Shocked no one’s had an eye out,’ Draco muttered. ‘As I was saying, it won’t be destroyed, just relocated to somewhere in the Forest where no one will accidentally get too close to it. The Forest itself of course will need to be heavily warded. I heard about those six first years.’

‘The Forest we can talk about, but you’re not moving the Willow from its spot. I need to see it.’

‘You _need_ to see it?’ Draco raised an eyebrow.

‘Long story,’ Harry said quickly. He scanned the list again. ‘What’s this about Hippogriffs?’

‘Don’t even get me started.’ 

Harry supressed a grin which Draco ignored.

‘I also think that you ought to increase the number of prefects in each house to six. The fourth years can take on a little extra responsibility and do the night patrols. I’m well aware of night-time wanderings at Hogwarts.’ Draco smirked.

‘Fair enough.’

Draco closed the British Muggles book and handed it to Harry. ‘Have a read tonight and let me know what you think. I’ll send for the builders as soon as you can sign off on the changes.’

Harry could see there was going to be no way of getting out of this. ‘All right. But don’t touch my Willow.’

‘We’ll talk about it later,’ Draco said in a singsong.

When Draco left his office, Harry got up from his desk and went to the western window where he could see the Whomping Willow; the view just wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t there.

Harry thought carefully about what Draco had been against and written in his notes. Perhaps he had a point about the Forbidden Forest, and maybe better broom safety should be implemented for the first years’ flying lessons, but the rest of it seemed a bit more personal. The hippogriffs, the nightly patrols by the prefects, and Harry had seen something on Draco’s list about the Room of Requirement. 

The Room still existed, Harry had been to check, but all that was left of the Hidden Room was a gaping, charred cavern. The Fiendfyre had wiped the lot of hidden objects, regrettably for some, but not for many. 

Harry could understand that while he, Harry had had his own demons to face throughout school, he’d had the love and support of his friends. Draco hadn’t had the same, yet had possibly more than Harry even knew about placed upon his shoulders. To him, it seemed that Draco needed a little reminder of what it was like to be a student at Hogwarts: carefree and happy. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so damn pushy with his ‘changes’.

***

Waking at dawn the next morning, Harry summoned some house elves to prepare breakfast for two, and to gently rouse Draco Malfoy and see that he meet Harry at the Quidditch pitch.

To Harry’s pleasure, Draco joined him half an hour later, albeit looking a bit bleary. Harry handed him coffee and allowed him a few sips before he spoke.

‘You gave me a lot to think about for Hogwarts yesterday. I agree that some safety measures could be put into place, like warding the Forest. I know Dumbledore didn’t do it because of Hagrid’s broken wand, and the centaurs, but I think it would be all right now. Also, perhaps tethering the first years’ brooms would be a good idea.’

Draco smiled over his coffee.

‘But, I think maybe in trying to eradicate the danger, you’ve overlooked the magic.’

‘What do you mean? All I want is a safe school for the next generation.’

‘I know, but even you have to admit that reintroducing _Defensive Magical Theory_ to the Defence syllabus is completely and utterly ridiculous.’

Draco had the decency to blush, knowing Harry’s history with Umbridge.

‘Children need to make mistakes to learn and grow, that’s all I’m saying.’

‘You got me out of bed at six in the morning to tell me that you want to refuse the Ministry’s new guidelines for rules?’

‘No, I got you out of bed at six in the morning to fly with me.’

‘What? Potter, I’m not flying with you.’

‘As a guest at my school, I insist.’ Harry produced two brooms and gave Draco his own Firebolt 3000.

‘You’re not serious?’ Draco turned the broom over in his hands and Harry could see his eyes widen in pleasant surprise.

‘Your Firebolt?’

‘Just get on the broom, Malfoy, and enjoy the wind in your face!’ 

Draco caught his gaze and an unusual glint lit his eye and climbed onto his broom. ‘First one round the pitch five times wins!’

Harry laughed and they took off together, laughing like teenagers. 

Two hours, one full sunrise and three more races later, Harry and Draco floated back to the ground. The flight seemed to have unlocked Draco, and Harry was struck by the memory of when all he wanted to do was lie in bed and talk with Draco, just like this. And after all the years that had passed between them, he still wanted to.

‘Thanks, Harry, I needed that,’ Draco said, turning to smile at him.

‘You’re welcome, Draco.’ Saying his name out loud, finally, felt like magic to Harry’s lips. 

‘I might reconsider the nets beneath the Quidditch pitch.’

Harry laughed. ‘That’s what I was aiming for.’

‘Really? Is your plan to take me through each and every aspect of Hogwarts and make me forget why I came here in the first place with a straight shot of adrenaline?’

‘If that’s what it takes.’

Draco sat in the stands, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. The sunlight glinted off his hair, and Harry’s hands ached to touch it.

‘So I guess you never got married, then?’ Draco asked suddenly.

‘No, never found the right person.’ Harry said hoarsely, his throat dry.

‘Hm. Never worked out for me either,’ Draco said. He cracked an eye open and looked up at Harry. ‘Why didn’t you ever owl me again? We could have tried again.’

‘We could?’

‘I wouldn’t have said no, that’s for sure.’

Harry swallowed hard. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

Draco shrugged and sat up again, clearly embarrassed. ‘I just wondered why. Maybe we should go in. I’ve still got some work to do.’

Harry took gentle hold of his elbow, staying is progress. ‘Draco, wait.’

‘What?’

Harry paused, his heart hammering. He _still_ didn’t know what to say, but if Draco was interested, he wasn’t going to let him go again.

‘I lied to you all those years ago,’ Harry said. ‘There was never anyone else, I just-- I couldn’t afford to love you and not be loved back.’

‘You are a colossal idiot.’ 

Draco leaned toward him and removed his glasses. His surprisingly soft hands held Harry’s face and without another word, Draco kissed him hard. It was just like Harry remembered; hot and moist, skin-tingling and delicious.

‘I can’t believe you thought I couldn’t love you,’ Draco whispered in his ear. ‘Without even letting me try.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Harry said, kissing his jaw. ‘I was stupid. For nearly seven years.’

Draco chortled. ‘For longer than that, Harry.’

Their lips met again, and Harry’s body was responding favourably to the attention. Draco had once complained that they never made it to the bed, and Harry was determined not to let that happen again in the middle of the school Quidditch pitch. He was about to suggest they move things into his bedchamber when they were interrupted by a roar of whistling and applause.

Harry and Draco jumped apart to see the Gryffindor Quidditch team dressed and ready to practice standing in the field, hooting and hollering.

‘Oh, fuck,’ Draco muttered beneath his breath.

Harry pulled Draco to his feet by the hand. ‘Thank you, Gryffindor team,’ he said. ‘I have a few words for you this morning, and they are, ‘do as I say, and not as I do’. Enjoy your practice.’

And, amidst more applause and whistling, Harry led Draco off the field and back to the castle where, for the first time, they made love in Harry’s bed.

***

Autumn rolled in to a slightly different looking Hogwarts. The staircases had been spelled to move a little more slowly as they changed, and the Forbidden Forest was fenced and required a password for entry, given only to the groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures professor. Quidditch however, continued on without a catching net, and the Hippogriffs remained on the syllabus, and the Whomping Willow stood proud and menacing right where it had for the last thirty years.

Fin.


End file.
